Life and Adventures of Venture

By: Venture Smith (1729-1805)

Venture Smith (1729–1805) was an African captured as a child and transported to the American colonies to be sold as a slave. As an adult, he purchased his freedom and that of his family. His history was documented when he gave a narrative of his life to a schoolteacher, who wrote it down and published it under the title A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America, Related by Himself. (Introduction by Wikipedia)

First Page:

ADVENTURES OF VENTURE, A NATIVE OF AFRICA, BUT RESIDENT ABOVE SIXTY YEARS
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RELATED BY HIMSELF

E text produced by Martin Schub

A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES

OF VENTURE, A NATIVE OF AFRICA,

But resident above sixty years in the United States of America.

RELATED BY HIMSELF.

VENTURE SMITH

New London, 1798

PREFACE

The following account of the life of VENTURE, is a relation of simple
facts, in which nothing is in substance to what he relates himself.
Many other interesting and curious passages of his life might have
been inserted, but on account of the bulk to which they must
necessarily have swelled this narrative, they were omitted. If any
should suspect the truth of what is here related, they are referred to
people now living who are acquainted with most of the facts mentioned
in this narrative.

The reader is here presented with an account, not of a renowned
politician or warrior, but of an untutored African slave, brought into
this Christian country at eight years of age, wholly destitute of all
education but what he received in common with other domesticated
animals, enjoying no advantages that could lead him to suppose himself
superior to the beasts, his fellow servants... Continue reading book >>